Molitor powers up for cycle

Paul Molitor was one of the greatest contact hitters in the history of baseball. But Molitor could also regularly dial up the power.

On May 15, 1991, Molitor would hit for the cycle, demonstrating his versatility at the plate.

Molitor was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the third overall pick in the 1977 MLB Draft after a stellar career at the University of Minnesota, where he hit .350 over three seasons.

Finishing second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 1978, Molitor put up a string of outstanding seasons leading up to 1991, earning two Silver Slugger Awards and three All-Star Game selections.

Molitor had earned a reputation as one of the toughest hitters in Major League Baseball, only fueling this sentiment after compiling a hitting streak that extended over 39 games in 1987 – the longest hitting streak in the American League since Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game streak in 1941.

“Paulie had a way about him where if you gave him a chance, he could always beat you,” former manager and Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson told the Seattle Times in a 2004 interview. “He’s what I call a winning player, like Joe Morgan. They’re just winners.”

Going into the contest on May 15, 1991, against the Minnesota Twins, Molitor was hitting .302 with one home run. With Kevin Tapani on the mound, Molitor would smack the first pitch he saw for a triple. He would eventually score on a ground out by Jim Gantner, giving the Brewers a one-run lead.

Stepping up to the plate again in the third inning, Molitor recorded his second hit of the game after smacking a ball to left-center field, advancing to second while taking advantage of a throwing error by the Twins. The Brewers would add another run thanks to a ground out by Gantner.

Milwaukee would tack on another run in the top of the fourth inning, extending its lead to three. Before Minnesota would score its first run, Molitor would record his third hit of the game after taking a pitch to the opposite field for a double.

Needing to hit a home run to complete the cycle, Molitor did exactly that when he stepped up to bat in the top of the seventh, taking a 1-2 pitch to left field, his fourth hit of the game off Tapani.

The Brewers would go on to win the game 4-2, with Molitor grounding out in his fifth and final at-bat of the contest. Despite achieving such a rare feat, Molitor had a unique perspective on the magnitude of his performance.

“They say it’s rarer than a no-hitter, but to me it’s not as nearly as impressive,” Molitor told Wausau Daily Herald. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much luck is involved. Still, just the fact that it’s rare makes it special to me.”

At the time, it was the fourth cycle in Milwaukee Brewers history, with the fifth coming almost 13 years later when Chad Moeller would achieve the feat on April 27, 2004, against the Cincinnati Reds.

Molitor would finish the 1991 season with an American League-best 13 triples along with 216 hits, which was the most in the big leagues. He would spend one more year with Milwaukee before signing with the Toronto Blue Jays following the 1992 season.

Molitor would retire after the 1998 season, finishing his career with 3,319 hits. He would have his No. 4 jersey retired by the Brewers in 1999 and be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in 2004.

Aidan Shephard was an intern in the Jim Murray Sports Communications Scholars Program at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum